Sail the Sky
by 177624601
Summary: What happens when the crew of Serenity comes to the aid of a pirate captain and her crew? Mal/Inara/OC, Jane/OC, Kaylee/Simon Sequel to "Back to Bite Ya."
1. Carrion

Clearly, she'd been in the bad end of a fight. Her engines were down, as was life support. There weren't even any lights in the cockpit.

"There she is, Zoe," Malcolm Reynolds said, addressing his second-in-command as they saw their derelict prey for the first time. "_Douglass_."

Named for a North American abolitionist back on Earth-That-Was and originally sanctioned to serve the Independents in the Unification War, the _Douglass_ was later bought by a private investor and had been en route from Persephone to Bellerophon when she'd been hit by reavers. Now, two weeks later, there was not one, but two raiding parties vying for her cargo, which included ten thousand credits, not to mention all the fancible rocks the likes of which Inara might be seen wearing.

A woman's face and voice came over the monitor. She was in her mid-thirties and quite attractive, with her slender features, ebony hair, and diamond blue eyes. "Unidentified _Firefly_, this is Maryanne O'Malley, captain of _Sappho_." She added, all-business, as a blip identical to the _Douglass_ appeared on _Serenity's _radar.

"_Sappho_, this is Malcolm Reynolds, captain of _Serenity_. If there's any trouble at all, I'm sure I can help."

"You can help by gettin' out of my patch a' sky. This here's my kill."

"Not from what I heard, and unless I'm mistaken, you don't look like no reaver I've ever seen."

"That don't change the fact that you're 'bout to peck at my carrion. Now you better clear out a' here 'fore…"

"Look, lady, I just got the wave 'bout this ship a few days ago."

"I don't care, cap'n. Now y'all better clear outta here 'fore my gunner gets bored."

Just then, Mal decided he didn't like bits of him flying everywhere, so he tore of for destinations unkown. Two months later, _Serenity_ was passing Verbena when they picked up a distress beacon from _Sappho_.

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A/N: The story is named after the song "Sail the Sky" by the Bedlam Bards and takes place about a month after BTBY.

The designs for _Douglass_ and _Sappho_ were based on _Aces & Eights _from the Serenity RPG.

Maryanne O'Malley was named after three pirates: Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and Gráinne Ní Mháille, commonly referred to in English as Grace O'Malley.


	2. Crews

The Sappho's former Captain's Launch (which had been reconstituted to suit the needs of her companion), barely fit inside Serenity's hold. "Captain O'Malley." Mal said as Maryanne and her crew stepped out of the shuttle. "Something happen to ya?"

"Alliance trouble, Captain Reynolds. Nothin' we couldn't handle, initially. Then the engine blew, even the new compression coil didn't help any. Too much stress from the tussle."

"So you stayed in the suits 'til we dropped by."

"Mm."

"And the sparkly stuff?"

"Tagged by the Alliance. How d'you think we got in that scrap?"

"How W'rin Bu Lai, Whai W'rin Bu Jwo (1), huh?"

"That's the truth."

"I'd say that the Chwen Joo (2) who nipped it from us better get what's comin' to him," interjected Captain O'Malley's 2nd, Hotaru Yumiko (3), "but knowin' the Alliance, it's probably a medal or summat."

At that point, River walked in, stroking an ebony black feline. "They're cats," she said, looking at their newfound cohorts.

"Don't mind her," Mall added. "She's a little…"

"She's a bug brain," Jayne interrupted.

"Never been on an 03 model before!" exclaimed a young-ish blonde, brown eyes aglow. "Pretty hefty design, secondary grav boot not withstanding. Never did understand why they invented those things, anyway."

Next came a red haired woman with indigo eyes, which were currently burning a hole through Mal. "Oh, great, men."

"Pay her no mind, cap'n. She's not big on men, but as a pilot, she's somethin' else." Interjected Maryanne, as Mal opened his mouth to object.

"Anyone know where I can put my med kit?" asked a Brown haired, blue eyed lady.

"Right through there," Mal gestured over his shoulder, "miss…"

"Mann. Elizabeth Mann, but everyone calls me Liz." She shook his hand warmly.

Bringing up the rear was an elegantly dressed woman who was in her very early forties, but she was a knockout anyway, with a red, floor length number hugging her svelte figure perfectly, her blonde hair cascading down to the small of her back, and her emerald eyes warmly locking onto Mal's gaze. Waltzing over to Mal, she held out her hand as though she was a princess at a royal banquet. "Good evening, captain Reynolds."

"Good evening," he dazedly replied.

"Well, cap'n, this is the crew. You've already met Liz and Yumi, that there's Scarlet" she gestured to the woman in red, "Circe," the redhead, "and my sis, Colleen, our engineer" the first blonde.

"Scarlet? Scarlet Vergara?" Inara asked as she came down the stairs. "Wo Buh Shin Wo Dah Yan Jing (4)!"

"It's good to see you too, mei-mei (5)." Scarlet replied as she ascended the stairs to meet her former classmate. "How's your health?" She asked, sotto voce.

"I've been better."

I changed Adrianne's name to Circe because of her views of men.

Translations

1. Things never go smooth (literally, "Good luck don't come, bad luck don't leave")

2. Idiot, moron (literally, "retarded pig")

3. Hotaru (family name): Firefly; Yumiko (given name): (yumi) "archery bow" or (yu) "reason" with (mi) "beautiful" combined with (ko) "child" (Japanese translations for "Hotaru Yumiko" provided by behindthename . com)

4. I don't believe my eyes!

5. Little sister


End file.
